BEES

GENERAL INFORMATION ON BEES

Overview

There are different types of bees each with different characteristics. Some bees are social while others are solitary and live by themselves. The honey bees are an interesting type of bees which are normally referred to as social animals as they majorly depend on each other and live in colonies. A colony in this case includes workers bees, a queen and drones. There is division of labor among the bees in these colony where every type as a different type of task to perform. In a hive there is normally the queen, the drones and the workers. Each of the bees has a role to play in the hive which include the following:

The Queen

Every hive has one queen who is the largest and has an abdomen which is elongated. The queen is the only bee with well-developed ovaries and her eggs are fertilized by the drones. It is the responsibility of the worker bee to determine which of the eggs will be the queen. When the queen is born, mating begins upon which the drones fertilize her. The queen remains fertile the rest of her life and has the longest life span as compared to other bees in the hive. She stays for many years and she is more productive during the first two years of her life.

The Drones

The male bees in the hive are the drones whose main work is to mate with the queen. The drones do not involve themselves in the collection of pollen or food and neither do they tend the babies. The drones have no use during the winter and they are hence kicked out of the hives since the resources are scarce.

The Workers

The workers are all female and they could be around 50,000 to 60,000 bees in the hive. They are the mightiest but the smallest bees. The workers are industrious and make many trips visiting as many flowers as possible. They are greatly involved in a lot of work as compared to the other bees. Their main work is to make comb and protect the hive. They are always busy and live for a period of one month or less but during winter they live long. At early stages of their lives, the workers are nurse bees after which they become scout and field bees after a given period of time.

General Facts About Bees

Bees flap their wings at a relatively high speed. The main reason why they flap their wings is to ensure that the hive remains hot and cool all the times. The worker bees flap their wings to maintain a steady temperature in the hive throughout the year. They maintain a temperature of around 93 degrees which is warm for the bees. Honey bees do not fly for long distances as they cover 3-5 miles from their homes to flowers.Bees are very busy and collect pollen and nectar from trees and flowers. To the bees honey is like a waste product, the nectar they collect from the flowers is brought back to the hive and made in to honey cell. The bees flap their wings to evaporate some of the liquid in the nectar until honey is made and seal it for future use. The pollen is usually sticky and combined with the nectar to make to produce bee bread which the baby bees feed on.

Bees are hairy on their body including the eyes which helps them collect pollen grains. They put the pollen on baskets at the back of their legs and take it to the hive. Bees have a strong eyesight and sometimes see colors that we human cannot see. Some flowers have some colored maps which shows the bees the direction to land, bees have the ability to see these markings but human beings cannot see them. Bees help in pollination of flowers as they move nectar to different flowers hence the creation and growth of vegetables and fruits.The honey bees fly only at daytime but the Africanized bees can fly in the presence of moonlight. The bees are the busiest insects and make up to 300 pounds of honey in a period of one year. They take more than 150 trips to trees and flowers in order to make a teaspoon of honey. If you happen to have abee problemon your premises, please feel free to call us or send us a message, thank you.